


the throne of a soul

by Serenity_Ribbon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Body Horror, Gen, inspired by nge, keith's mum is p much eva-01, posting this before it probably gets jossed to hell and back by s3, pretentious title is pretentious, to the tune of: 'i was a humanoid and now im part of a sentient robot the heck'
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-05 00:42:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11566755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serenity_Ribbon/pseuds/Serenity_Ribbon
Summary: Six ficlets on the Red Lion and Vivan Kogane, and how they became one.





	1. discovery may be joy

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the way Eva-01 reacts to Shinji being hurt vs how Red responds to Keith being hurt. They're.... eerily similar, tbh.
> 
> I want to get this all posted before s3 drops but other than that I have no update schedule tbh. 
> 
> Title from a quote by Rei in episode 14, 'Entry plug, the throne of a soul.'

Vivan threw her grappling hook onto a black-burnt rock, dodging spurts of flame as she pulled herself up. She looked around from her new perching place and checked her scanner. She was getting closer to the energy readings but she still couldn’t see what was causing them, just a burnt and featureless landscape. This planet was going to rip itself apart soon, she could tell, the expanded sun looming large and red over the volcanic surface. Only her suit kept out the heat that would've killed her in an instant. She put the scanner back in a pouch on her belt and bounded off in the direction that it pointed her in.

According to the records, this planet had always had large amounts of volcanic activity, but it had increased drastically as the planet warmed. It had been abandoned a long time ago, if the lack of any recognizable artificial structures was any indication, but 10,000 years ago this might have been a flourishing planet.

Well, maybe not, if one of the fleeing Paladins thought it was a good idea to hide their Lion here. Putting it on an inhabited planet would've put the indigenous species at too great a risk and if she'd learnt anything about the Paladins of old, that would've been too much of a risk for any of them to consider.

Well, maybe not for _Zarkon._

Any of the ones that weren't treacherous backstabbers, then.

She wondered what Lion this might be. Considering they seemed to represent the elements and Blue had been on Earth, a world of water, it would make sense if this was the Red Lion.

Great. Trying to find the gigantic red sentient robot on a volcanic planet. With lava everywhere. Might be here a while. 

Not that she had much else to do these days. The Kogane boy and their child were as safe as they could be on Earth, the Blade weren't talking to her, mostly because of Kogane and also her missing blade, and she'd lost the Empire somewhere around the Glise system. Who knew, life when you weren't being shot at constantly could actually be quite boring.

She paused on top of another rock and sat down heavily, rubbing her worse knee. She had been searching for several hours, her ship only a faint shape on the horizon, and nothing. Half the reason she was even doing this was to try and get back in Kolivan’s good graces, futile as that might be. The locations of two Voltron Lions would aid their cause against Zarkon greatly. And if she was accepted back into the fold in exchange for that information, well that was just to her benefit, wasn't it?

Shifting round so the sun was behind her, she surveyed the horizon again, pulling out her scanner. She was closer than she had been but still it the source of the signal was far away. She went to stand but lost her footing, a stone falling from under her foot. Eyes widening, she tried to scramble away from the edge. Another stone fell away and she slipped down the side of her perch.

She landed, scraped and bruised, on the hot rocks beneath. She tried to pull herself up but her leg gave way under her. Just what I need right now, she thought, a malfunctioning leg.

In her pain she hadn't noticed the red glow surrounding her in a circle. Her head snapped up as she heard a roar, looking from side to side in search of the source. 

The ground shook. Vivan rolled to one side, anticipating an earthquake just in time to see a shape burst from the ground in a fount of lava. The Red Lion flew in an arch across the sky before landing in front of her and opening its mouth.

Well, _that_ hadn't happened with the Blue Lion.

Vivan struggled to her feet and limped inside.


	2. as many truths as there are people

Vivan sat down heavily in the pilot’s chair and nearly sprawled forward as it shot her into the front of the cockpit. She placed a hand on the controls to steady herself and as she did she heard the roar again. 

Leaning back she looked at the controls. With the two joysticks at either side of her and the red-lit panels, they certainly didn't look anything close to Galra-standard or even Blade-standard. Experimentally, she flexed her fingers and placed her prosthetic hand on the left stick. As she went to push it an image flashed through her mind of the Lion running forward. She flinched back and then frowned at the ceiling, “Hello?”

Another image, this time of the ancient Galra homeworld and the other four lions hovering over it.

“I'm Galra, yes, but the Homeworld's been abandoned for-”

A picture of something impacting the planet. The Black Lion falling towards it. Refugee ships leaving the planet in droves.

“...centuries.” Vivan looked out of the windows at the barren land. “You saw it? You saw our planet fall?”

The Lion made another sound in her head, quiet and mournful.

“You could call that the downfall of my race, I suppose. Altea followed her not long after.” Vivan smiled sadly, “I don't think we're very different, are we? For a sentient robot and a Galra.”

Red showed her a rapid series of images. Two faces, one full-Galra, blue furred with a long mane and large ears and one with the features of a half-Altean, red streaking across their cheeks and purple irises against yellow sclera. Fighting against the Empire in defence of a larger ship and a great blue planet. Battles fought and won and lost. The final fall of the Paladins and the destruction of Altea.

“We're both old soldiers, you and I.”


	3. man fears the darkness

Red let out a laser blast as Vivan pushed her to go faster. Looking up at the monitors, she could see the scout ships gaining on her, chasing her towards-

Oh no.

A Galra warship loomed large in the viewscreen, a hailing channel appearing next to it.

With a grimace she punched the answer button, “Commander Sendak.”

“You will give up your Lion for the glory of the Empire!” 

She smirked nastily, “I'd die before I gave Red to the likes of you.”

“Then die. I'm sure Haggar would love to examine your body, what with those advanced prosthetics of yours.” he sneered, cutting the connection. 

She swerved, dodging the barrage of laser fire from the main ship and activating Red's jawblade, cutting both of the scout ships into pieces. She knew she didn't have much hope. Red was still flashing up the damage she had got trying to fly from the scout ships. She didn't know how much either of them could take.

The warship fired, landing a blow on Red's underside. She tried to pull up, away from the Empire's forces but another blast hit Red’s head. Vivan screamed as energy crackled along her arms from the controls. 

Vivan pushed at the controls but Red was dead in the water, the last blast having taken her out completely. Her very presence was gone from her head.

There was another crackle. Vivan stood, staring the energy weapon down. She closed her eyes as it powered up, feeling the shock of energy run up her body, the pain so great she thought it would tear her apart. She opened her eyes one last time and fell back into the pilot's chair, her eyes swimming.

The pain seemingly evaporated as she closed them for the last time.

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter titles are all nge quotes. 
> 
> Find me on tumblr @aazurill.tumblr.com


End file.
